Would You Abandon the Teddy Bear That Gives You Such Comfort in Times of Stress?

Would You Abandon the Teddy Bear That Gives You Such Comfort in Times of Stress?

Thousands of people do – and they aren’t only kids.

-Jane Farrell

About 75,000 people per year leave their plush pals in hotels, according to a survey by the Travelodge hotel chain. Last year, Travelodge had more than 6.5 million guests in Europe alone and while the figure of 75,000 is only a small percentage, it’s still more than the hotel chain expected.

Travelodge said they get a lot of calls from owners looking for the missing bears, which are then returned to them. According to the Daily Mail, the owners have not just been children. Says Travelodge spokeswoman Shakila Ahmed, “We have had a large number of frantic businessmen and women call us regarding their forgotten teddy bear.”

That’s when the Travelodge people decided the teddy-bear thing needed some more investigation. When the chain surveyed 6,000 random adults, they found that 33 percent went to bed with teddy bears , and that 25 percent of macho businessmen take the furry creatures on work-related trips. The people surveyed said it’s comforting to have a familiar friend in a strange place.

And Travelodge isn’t the only company working on teddy-bear reunions. A poster on an Internet board said she once left her bear, Albert, at a hotel in Quebec, Canada, and they returned him by express mail. And another poster said that her husband took the family teddy bear when he went to Las Vegas on a business trip.

“Whether male or female,” she said, “young or old, you can’t say anything bad about having a teddy bear with you.”